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.S645 

^°'''' ^ BRIEF APPEALS 



FOB THE 



LOYAL CAUSE. 



By Hon. E. DELAFIELD SMITH 

CNITED STATES DISTRICT ATTORNEY AT NEW TORE. 



PUBLISHED B7 REQUEST. 

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JOHN W. AMERMAN, PEINTEE 

No. 47 Cedar Street. 

1863. 



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The continent is trembling with the tramp 
Of countless armies. In the dreary camp 
And on the wasted field, the flower of youth 
And loyalty has given to God and Truth, 
To Country and Mankind, the bravest, best 

Of blood, the charm of home, the gem of health. 

The calm pursuit of comfort and of wealth, 
To save the young Republic of the "West. 
God guard and cheer them in their glorious strife ; 
They battle for a sovereign nation's life ! 

Time was, when over mountain, dale and plain, 
A savage sceptre ruled this broad domain. 
Our lordly land by northern races won, 
The tawny Indian sought the setting sun. 

Then came the cohorts of Imperial France ; 
Their bold battalions quailed before the lance 
Of the young warrior, Washington. Then groaned the earth 
With the long travail of a nation's birth. 
The haughty Briton bowed and bit the sod — 
A new-born nation owned the smile of God ! 

The years roll on, and o'er the land and seas 
Our starry emblem proudly courts the breeze ; 
Now streams, Quebec ! above thy frowning walls. 
Now gaily floats o'er Montezuma's halls. 

Time still moves onward, and a stealthy thrust 
Brings down our soaring Eagle to the dust ; 
His breast was proof against a foreign dart. 
But Treason almost reached his throbbing heart. 
Our land, like Eden, from without secure, 
Nursed a cold viper in its flowery bed ; 
Shall we go forth to weep and to endure, 

Or rise and crush the slimy serpent's head ? 
God bless the tongue, the pen, the vote, the sword, 
By which our nation's sway shall be restored ! 
God speed free labor and the rights of men. 
And plant our flag on Sumter's tower again ! 
With a new meaning in each sacred fold. 
That flag shall make the patriot warrior bold. 

And when our captains, with the sword and lance, 
Shall lead our armies in their proud advance, 
The poor white outcast, with enfranchised slaves, 
Shall wave our standard over traitors' graves !* 



* These lines were written and inserted by Mr. Delafield Smith, in an address delivered 
before the Mechanics' Society, at Irving Hall, New York", January 9lh, 1S63. 



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AT THE WAR MEETING, CALLED BY THE COMMITTEES OF THE NEW 
YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, THE COMMON COUNCIL, THE UNION 
DEFENCE COMMITTEE, AND OTHER BODIES, IN RESPONSE TO AN 
APPEAL OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 

FOR ADDITIONAL MILITARY FORCES. 

[EXTEACTED from a printed REPORV of the rROCEEDDfOS, FEEPARED UNDER THE 
SUPERVISION OF THE SECRETARY OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.] 

Mr. Smith, being introduced by General Fremont, 
who presided at the stand near the Spingler Institute, 
was received with great enthusiasm, and spoke as fol- 
lows: 

Men of New Yoke : — This is, in truth, a colossal demonstra- 
tion. The eye can hardly reach the boundaries of these com- 
pact thousands. It would be vain for the voice to attempt it. 
The people have come in their might. They have come in 
their majesty. They have " come as the winds come when for- 
ests are rended." They have " come as the waves come when 
navies are stranded." We are here to-day, not to speak and 
acclaim, but to act and incite to action. [Applause.] We 
know that this monster rebellion cannot be spoken down ; it 
must be fought down ! [Cheers.] 

We are assembled to animate each other to renewed eiforts 
and nobler sacrifices, in behalf of our imperilled country. 
There is hardly one of us who has not, at this hour, some en- 
deared relative on the bloody fields of Vir2;inia. The voices 
of our armed and suflfering brethren literally cry to us from the 
ground. To-day we hear them. To-day let us heed them. [Ap- 
plause.] The call for fresh troops comes to us from a loved and 
trusted President — from faithful and heroic generals. [Loud 
cheers.] This day determines that it shall be answered. [Re- 



newed cheers.] Let eacli act as tliongb specially commissioned 
to obtain recruits for a sacred service. [Applause.] 

Fremont is here. You liave heard his voice. He has told 
us to uj)hold our government and sustain our generals in the 
field. Whatever officer may go to battle with the President's 
commission, will be made strong by a loyal people's prayers 
and confidence. [Loud cheering.] 

The Army and JS avy, the President, the Cabinet and the Con- 
gress, have done all that can now be efiiected by them. 
The issue to-day is with the people. Do you ask activity on 
the f)art of the President ? Recall his personal labor and su- 
pervision in the council and the field. Do you seek a poli- 
cy? Look to his solemn conference with the loyalists of the 
border States. [Cheers.] Do you demand legislation ? Wit- 
ness the matured laws that Congress has spread upon the statute- 
book. A jurist, from the bench of our highest tribunal, once 
declared a maxim which shocked the country and the world. 
It is ours, with our rej)resentatives, to respond : A rebel 
"has no rights which a white man is bound to respect!" 
[Loud and long continued cheering, with waving of hats and 
handkerchiefs.] 

A traitor cannot own a loyalist of any race. ISTor can " ser- 
vice be due" to national conspirators, except at the call of 
public justice. [Laughter and applause.] 

The limits of civilized warfare must and will be observed ; 
but those limits are broad as the boundaries of the ocean, and 
they lie far beyond the lives and the treasure of traitors in 
arms. [Cheers.] In this mortal combat between the enemies 
and the friends of republican liberty, wherein treason scruples 
at nothing, patriots must neglect no means that God and na- 
ture have placed in their hands. [Loud cheers.] 

These institutions were reared on the ruins of British pride. 
Their foundations must be reconstructed on the crumbled pre- 
tensions of southern oligarchs. [Renewed cheers.] We must, 
and we will, repel force by force. They who press an iron 
heel upon the heart of our noble nation, must perish by the 
sword of her avenging sons. God grant the time may be near 
when every rebel leader may say his prayers, and bite the dust, 



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or hang as high as Haman. If we are wise, and true, and 
brave, the American Union, like the sun in the heavens, shall 
be clouded but for a night. Still shall it move onward, and 
every obstacle in its pathway be withered and crushed. [Ke- 
newed and continued cheering.] 

Yictory, indeed, cannot be won, except by arms. Our in- 
stitutions were the gift of the wounded and dead of the armies 
of "Washington. Shakspeake said, and we re-utter in a higher 
sense, 

"Things bought with blood must be by blood maintained." 

Look to our armies, and rally the people to swell their wasted 
ranks. Go, you who can. And spare neither men nor money 
to enable others to march to battle. [Clieers.] 

Let loyal men permit no question to distract or divide them. 
Care not what a man's theories may be, so that his heart feels 
and his hand works for the Union. Every citizen, North or 
South, who prays for the success of our arms, and who labors 
for the vindication of our Constitution, whatever may be his 
politics or opinions, is a patriot. [Cheers.] They who con- 
demn any class of our fellow-citizens, because of differences on 
collateral issues — those who declare that a loyal abolitionist is 
on a level with an armed secessionist — are wrong in head, or 
at heart unsound. [Applause.] 

Let assertions like this be at an end. Let all loyal men, and 
all loyal journals, abandon arguments which bear the dull and 
counterfeit ring of ti-aitor philosophy. [Loud applause.] 

For the rest — for those who not alone seem^ but are, disloyal 
— ^let the people arise in their might, and silence them all, 
whether they speak in the street to the few, or seek, through 
the public press, to poison the many. Law, in many things, can- 
not go so far, nor accomplish so much, as determined public 
opinion. [Cheers.] While men like Andrew Johnson, of Ten- 
nessee, with herculean strength, strike, in their districts, at the 
hydra of rebellion, shall not we, in New York, war upon the 
spirit of secession in every form ? [Applause, and cries of 
"We will."] The old flag must be the paramount object of all. 



It will be loved by the faithful. By the false, it must be 
feared. [Vociferous cheering.] 

They talk of a distinction between fidelity to the government 
and devotion to the administration. In the day of national dan- 
ger or disaster, the two sentiments are inseparable. Distrust 
him who professes the one only to disclaim the other. [Ap- 
plause.] When the tempest howls, no prayer breathed for the 
ship forgets the pilot at her helm. [Applause and cheers,] 

Loyalty knows no conditions. Stand by the government ] 
Scrutinize its action ; but do it like earnest patriots — not like 
covert traitors. Stand by the administration! In times 
like these, party spirit should be lulled. That spirit was 
hushed in the era of the Eevolution — in the days of Madison 
and MoNEOE — and when the hero of l^ew Orleans crushed the 
rising form of l!^ullification. Our fathers stood by Jackson, as 
their sires sustained Washington. It is our privilege to uphold 
the arm of a President, great and pure, who will share their 
glory on the page of history. [Loud cheering.] 

I must trespass no longer. [Cries of " go on, go on."] 'No, 
fellow-citizens ; I will bid you farewell. Our illustrious Secre- 
tary of State has this day given to the army the only son not 
already in the public service. Let us emulate his spirit of 
sacrifice, and think nothing too dear to ofier on the altar of our 
country. 

Mr. Smith spoke with a clear, loud voice, and retired 
ill the midst of most enthusiastic cheering. 



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%%m\ at ^aMsoit %\mxi, 

AT THE MEETING, HELD APEIL 20, 1863, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 
THE UNION LEAGUES, TO PLEDGE OUE ARMIES IN THE FIELD 
THE MORAL SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE AT HOME. 

[extracted feom the record of the addresses, published bt the committee of 

arrangements.] 

Mr. William E. Dodge, the Chairman at the ladies' 
stand, came forward, and said : " Fellow-citizens, I have 
the honor to introduce the only prosecuting officer who 
ever had the courage to undertake, and the ability to 
accomplish, the execution on the gallows of a slave- 
trader. I present to you the Hon. E. Delafield Smith, 
United States District Attorney." Mr. Smith was wel- 
comed with cheering, which lasted for some time after 
he appeared in front of the platform. He then pro- 
ceeded to speak as follows : 

Citizens of N'ew York : — When Athenians met, as ancient 
annals tell, to deliberate upon the welfare of their country, a 
prayer ascended to the gods — an invocation for a blessing. 
Heaven's sun smiles not upon ns to-day ; but we have a bene- 
diction through the medium of this delegation of Heaven's 
nearest representatives. [Applause.] The lady of the South 
hugs the rattlesnake emblem, because it is the symbol of her 
negro dowry. The daughter of the l^oi-th reads in her flag 
the record of a nation's glory. [Renewed applause.] 

I shall acknowledge the generous introduction of your 
president, and the cordial greeting of this assemblage, by an 
address remarkable only for its brevity. Why sliould we not 
be brief? There is but one cpiestion before the American 
people. That cpiestion, indeed, is of mighty magnitude, and 
upon its solution hangs the fate of the " great republic." But 



10 

it is easily answered. Have Americans of 1861 tlie constancy 
and courage to crush domestic traitors, as their fathers, in 1T76, 
subdued British foes ? To what purpose was the blood of the 
Eevolution shed, if the soil that absorbed it produces a race too 
cowardly or too factious to fight and unite for the welfare, the 
integrity, the existence of a nation like this ? [Renewed 
cheering.] 

I sat in the gallery of the Senate a few weeks before Breck- 
iNEiDGE crawled from the national capital to a rebel camp. The 
Union and the Constitution were covered all over with the 
slime of his praise. Many in the North are allied to him in 
secret sympathy, and the lurking demon that haunted his 
heart prompts them to the substance of the same outward ut- 
terances. Away with all disguises ! [Cheers.] Are we for 
our country ? Then we are patriots ! Are we for her destroy- 
ers? Then their guilt is ours! Without a common flag, 

WHERE IS THE UnION ? WiTHOUT A COrNTRY, WHERE IS THE 

Constitution ? [Loud and prolonged cheering.] 

In the years of by-gone parties. Whig generals, in a Demo- 
cratic war, led American armies to the city of Mexico. To- 
night, we behold Democratic leaders rallying the people around 
a government from which they may differ as to administra- 
tion, but with which they are one in a determination to pre- 
serve and perpetuate it. Democrats ! you have never faltered 
in protecting your country from foreign bayonets. Will you 
not shield her from more deadly daggers, ahned at her breast 
by her own pampered and treacherous children ? [Applause.] 
" One country, one constitution, one destiny !" Such is the 
spirit of exhortation that comes from Mount Yernon, from 
Monticello, from Quincy, from the Hermitage, from the shades 
of Ashland, and from the sea-washed meadows of Marshfield. 
" One country, one constitution, one destiny !" Let this les- 
son, breathed from the tomb of a patriot, and mingling with the 
traditions of the past, prevail over dishonoring suggestions from 
degenerate sons of the present, as the hiss of the serpent that 
may creep over the grave of Webster is lost in the ocean mur- 
murs by which his solemn requiem is forever sung ! [Loud 
cheering.] 



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Democrats ! the party of Jackson lias foundered too long in 
shallow Southern harbors. It has been lured by false lights 
and steered by drunken helmsmen. The time has come to re- 
ship the old crew, and sail in the track of the ISTorthern star. 
[Cheers.] 

Who are they who distract and divide the people ? Let 
their discord be hushed in the loud music of according voices, 
swelling the anthem of Freedom and Nationality ! [Continued 
cheering,] 

I close as I began. There is but one vital question — but one 
living issue. They that are true upon that, are right in every- 
thing. Those who inflate minor matters into moment now, are 
themselves deluded, or aim to make others the victims of de- 
ception. He who loves slavery or party, and he who hates 

SLAVERY OR PARTY, MORE THAJST HE LOVES HIS COUNTRY, MAY CALL 
HIMSELF A DEMOCRAT OR A PHILAi^THROPIST, BUT HE CANNOT BE A 

PATRIOT ! [Loud and continued cheering.] 



/(o6 



^tsoliitions 



PEESENTED, AT THE EEQUEST OF THE COMmTTEE OF AEEANGE- 
MENTS, AT A UNION MEETING, HELD AT COOPEE INSTITUTE, 
NEW YOEK, OCTOBEE 29, 1863, ON THE EVE OF THE NEW YOEK 
STATE ELECTION. 

[copied from beports of the meeting, published in the daily press.] 

Resolved, That political parties can Lave no legitimate existence, 
when the questions to which they owed their vitality have faded from 
the public mind. Organizations, the healthful growth of a state of 
peace, may well prove out of place and pernicious in a period of insur- 
rection. Opinions, born of a dead past, often admit of no application 
to living issues of the present. The partisan divisions which were 
visible when this defensive war broke out, have been obliterated by 
the wave of popular feeling which has swept over the land, receiving 
its first but not its last impulse upon the desecration of the American 
flag at the fall of Sumter. 

Resolved, That both the Whig and Democratic parties having ful- 
filled their respective missions, and having been long ago consigned 
to the tomb of the Capulets, the continued attempt of the allies and 
dupes of treason to galvanize their remains and to make them stalk at 
the head of their motley ranks, is an insult to the intelligence of the 
American people. And the outrage is the more flagrant when the 
image of Henry Clay is made in eflfect to carry the flag of Disunion, 
and the shade of Andrew Jackson is invoked to bear the banner of 
Secession. 

Resolved, That the Unionists of New York, coming and combining 
from all organizations, look with contempt upon the efforts of men 
who have never acted with the Democratic party, to use its name and 
traditions against the government of their country it its mortal strug- 
gle with rebellion. And we hail with satisfaction the indications 
everywhere prevailing, that the Democratic masses, warned of new 
lights, are following in great numbers the signals of old and tried 
leaders, and are practically demonstrating their devotion to the cause 
of patriotism and principle. 



14 

Resolved, That human ingenuity may be taxed in vain to discover 
a distinction, in moral guilt or in baleful influence, between men who 
adhere to a foreign despot and those who encourage a domestic con- 
spirator. A tyrant, in 1776, attempted to smother a country in its 
infancy. A traitor, in 1861, seeks to assassinate a nation in its man- 
hood. Americans who then avowedly or secretly gave aid and com- 
fort to George the Third, were not one whit more culpable than those 
who now, either openly or covertly, sustain the falling fortunes of Jef- 
ferson Davis. Native Tories and Hartford Conventionists, Nullifica- 
tionists and Copperheads, will be consigned, in our country's glorious 
future, to one common grave of infamy and execration. 

Resolved, That the existing conflict waged by the national authority 
to defend the Constitution, perpetuate the Union, and preserve the 
nation's life, is equally sacred with the war of the Revolution, to 
which the nation owes its origin. That in a cause so momentous, it 
is our duty to use every weapon known to the righteous usages of 
nations. That, to this end, we heartily approve the several acts of 
Congress for enrolling the national forces ; providing bounties for vol- 
unteers ; wresting the habeas cor])us from the uses of treason ; indem- 
nifying public ofiicers from the malignity of arrested traitors ; retaliat- 
ing for outrages upon Southern Unionists and weakening the enemy 
by confiscating the property of rebels ; opening the lands of the South 
to free white labor ; arming friendly troops, of every color, creed and 
clime ; and the President's immortal proclamation for the perpetual 
emancipation of the slave. 

Resolved, That again and again we return our grateful acknowledg- 
ments to the soldiers and sailors who, upon the land and sea, have 
bravely borne our flag through the storms of battle. We tender them 
our congratulations upon the moral sympathy and support with which 
the ballot-box has responded to the tidings of their triumphs. While 
Yicksburg has answered to Gettysburg, and while Port Hudson, Little 
Rock, and East Tennessee, have united in a national anthem, Connec- 
ticut has called to California, California to Maine, Maine to Iowa, Iowa 
to Vermont, Vermont to Indiana, until at length the voices of all have 
been drowned in the popular artillery which has thundered from the 
mines of Pennsylvania and from the gardens of Ohio. 

Resolved, That the action of our opponents in every State wherein 
they have possessed either legislative or executive control, in with- 



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holding the sacred right of suffrage from our brave defenders in the 
field, exhibits a fear of the masses in singular contrast with the unter- 
rified confidence of the democracy of other days. Under whatever 
pretext or subterfuge that right may be denied, we challenge the most 
acute champion of this injustice to produce a substantial reason for its 
infliction, except that the soldier's ballot, like his blood, is consecrated 
to the cause of his country. 

Resolved, That the defeat of Woodward, a wary conservative, the 
rebuke of Tuttle, a dissatisfied General, and the annihilation of Val- 
LANDiGHAM, a martyr to treason, alike demonstrate that no device can 
hide from the people the evil influence of Opposition victories, no 
matter under what auspices those victories may be achieved. No 
party can be entitled to the confidence of a country when its successes 
are promoted by the defeat, and its discomfitures by the triumph of 
the National arms. As Macbeth was prompted to treason and mur- 
der by the black j^rophecies of the heath, so the South was instigated 
to rebellion and usurpation by the darker promises of Northern dem- 
ocrats. And later: Rebellion, staggered by telling blows, revived 
upon the hope of Opposition gains ; and now, New York, having 
intrusted her executive power to the Opposition, has taught her own 
people, as well as her sister States, how much of encouragement can 
thus be imparted to the Rebel Government, and how little to our 
own. 

Resolved, That in common with the electors of other States, the 
people of New York distrust the loyalty of those who extol the deeds 
of rebel chieftains, but hear in silence the achievements of Union 
heroes; and who, while mourning over the detention of traitors in 
forts of the North, have no word of sympathy for sufiiering patriots in 
prisons of the South. 

Resolved, That while the honest exercise of the right of criticism 
upon the acts of public men is approved and defended, we condemn the 
abuse of that right, as practiced by those who systematically misrepre- 
sent, and indiscriminately denounce, the motives and measures of the 
constitutional directors of our National Government. That, over- 
whelmed as they have been by difficulties and responsibilities of a 
magnitude unknown to their predecessors, no candid patriot will with- 
hold the expression of surprise, not that errors have been so many, but 
father that they have been so few. That our sure and steady ad- 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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VANCEMENT UPON THE LAND AND THE WATERS, BEING THE RESCLT OF 
PLANS PROPOSED AND CO-OPERATED IN BY BOTH MILITARY AND CIVIL 
AUTHORITIES, IS THE RIGHTFUL GLORY OF BOTH THESE BRANCHES OF OUR 
country's SERVICE. TlIE MASTERLY DIPLOMACY OF THIS ADMINISTRA- 
TION ; THE TOWERING ABILITY AND THE SUCCESS OF ITS FINANCIAL 
HEAD ; THE STATESMANSHIP AND PATRIOTISM OF ITS CHIEF, ARE RECOG- 
NISED WITH PRIDE BY THE LOYAL PEOPLE OF THE NATION. They who 

denounced Washington thronghout the doubtful period of the Revo- 
lution ; Madison in the war of 1812; Jackson in his conflict with 
Nullification, and Lincoln in his struggles with the Great Rebellion, 
will be charged by posterity with common motives, and history will 
do justice to assailants and assailed. 

Resolved, That unable to directly write these doctrines upon our bal- 
lots, the Unionists of New York, ^vithout regard to past political divis- 
ions, will vote for the men by whom these principles are represented. 

Resolved, That in the alliance recently concluded in this city, between 
hostile factions of the Opposition, the people have witnessed the most 
dangerous encroachment upon their liberties and their safety. Politi- 
cal conventions, throwing off all pretense to representative fidelity, 
have resigned their powers to sub-committees, and they, in turn, -de- 
spising alike the interests of the community and the wishes of the honest 
adherents of their party, have bargained away both county and judicial 
stations. Crying out against alleged arbitrary measures to maintain the 
government of their country, they, at the same time, attempt to subject 
the people of this city, even those of their own faith, to the most 
shameless tyranny. The glare of the incendiary's torch was 
hardly extinguished — the cry of the helpless orphan, and of 

the murdered innocent was scarcely hushed the yell of an 

infuriated mob, inflamed by skulking leaders, was but just over- 
come, when the independence of the judiciary of our city, the 
ultimate protection of life and property, was directly assailed. 
Precedent may be searched in vain for the overthrow, in this city, of 
upright judges, by their own party, to compass personal interests or 
political schemes. The discarded candidates, although not of our 
political faith, we shall sustain. But the lesson will not be complete 
unless all the expected fruits of this combination shall be turned to 
ashes on the lips of its inventors. 

These resolutions were received with loud demonstra- 
tions of approval, and were unanimously adopted. 



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